


if you'll have lived on then that's all I need

by helpwhatshappeninguh



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Karl Jacobs-centric, Not Beta Read, Platonic Relationships, Time Travelling Karl Jacobs, probably?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:07:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29662197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helpwhatshappeninguh/pseuds/helpwhatshappeninguh
Summary: To carry on the past, to forge the future, and to protect the present, Karl shares his stories to three children.
Relationships: Karl Jacobs & Ranboo, Karl Jacobs & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Karl Jacobs & TommyInnit, No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 46





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> i don't think there's any tw's here?? lmk if i'm wronggg
> 
> this is the more, story focused version of the last thing i posted, i just wanted to write something at least a bit lighter
> 
> this'll just be Karl storytelling to the children with some me dumping in my own lore-backstory shit 
> 
> poggers
> 
> title will probably be changed soon, i legit can't find one and dont have enough time to find a good one now oops
> 
> current title is from hated by life itself

Karl’s never been fond of time. 

It moves too fast; it tears things apart, ripping at them from the seams and pulling them off to another time. But then, it slows down, and suddenly it’s moving too slow, clawing at you slowly and making you endure every second of the agonizing pain. 

The latter was what Karl currently felt; the world swirling and moving around him in an agonizingly slow dance. His vision refused to focus; it felt like smoke was still clouding his vision, and before he knew it he  _ was back there and smoke was clouding his nose and screams were filling the air-  _

Shaking his head, Karl found himself stumbling as he finally felt his feet on the solid ground. He fumbled around blindly until he found his hand pressing against something solid, and he grabbed at his goggles with the other, finally tearing them off. 

He let out a small wheeze as the colors finally began to focus again, reforming back into identifiable shapes. Karl leaned his back against the tree, shutting his eyes as he inhaled slowly. 

Karl rubbed his eyes as he shrugged off the long trench coat he normally wore when he went off to travel; the scent of smoke clung to it as he threw it to the ground beside him. He slumped down the tree, staring sullenly at the ground in front of him.

So they had decided it was time, huh? 

Karl groaned. Tommy had just recently been exiled, as if that wasn’t enough drama, and now he was stuck traveling again. He really hated the gods, sometimes. 

He cringed, reaching over for his discarded coat as he fumbled through the pockets until his hands landed on a book. Karl pulled it out, flipping open the cover. 

It was empty, but it wouldn’t be for long.

Karl frowned and began to write. 

  
  
  


Karl was never sure when he began to time travel.

To be honest, he couldn’t remember it. Karl thought it may have been a long time ago; the rough and tattered state of his jacket when he found it (Or at least, his earliest memory of it,) proved a testament to that, as well as the hundreds of books that lined the dimension that was his library. 

All he knew was that as soon as he settled down anywhere, and familiarized himself with the present he would be thrown into both the past and the future. 

His job was to document the stories of people and places from both past and present; stories long last to time, the same time that would bring them back. The books he found in the Inbetween informed him of this much. 

It was this same job that led him to whitelisted servers rich with history like the Dream Smp, stories hid behind walls to never reach the outside world. Until Karl, that was. 

He needed to inform people of the past so they knew how they had gotten here; so they knew the suffering and loss endured by those before them. They needed to know the future to know the suffering and loss they would cause- and how they could prevent it. 

And yet, Karl can’t help but wonder why the gods have waited so long. So much suffering had already been set in stone for those of the future- Tommy and Tubbo, two _ children _ , already bore the scars of wars they never should have seen. Karl frowned. The gods were cruel. 

Still, he couldn’t help but worry- if the gods had sent him back to the past now, what was in their future that could possibly make everything go even worse? 

He frowned, standing up as he finished his documentation. 

Things wouldn’t go worse. He’d stop them before they got there. 

After all, if he couldn’t even do his job, what use was he? 


	2. two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> man

Karl frowned as he stared at the wall in his library. 

He was currently facing a problem. Who should he tell his stories to? 

Technoblade and Dream were obvious no’s. He didn’t think he needed to explain that. Phil might have listened to him, but Karl guessed that he probably needed more time to deal with the recent death of his son, caused by his own hand. He knew that Sapnap was currently dealing with Dream’s mistreatment of his friends, so that didn’t seem like a good idea either. 

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. Maybe it’d be better to go out, and look at who he could find. Karl spun around, walking out the door of his library. He wasn’t so sure about the location it was in currently. He’d been thinking of changing it for a while, but he wasn’t sure how long it would take or if he could even do it. 

Kale hummed quietly as he skipped through the forest, before arriving at the crater that was L’Manburg with a small exhale. He frowned, walking up to a small cliff of rock that stuck out over the crater. He squinted. Was he seeing stuff, or was there something red at the bottom?

Unfortunately, he didn’t look closer. 

“.. Karl?” 

Karl leaped around, nearly slipping off the rock for a minute. Ranboo let out a panicked squawk when Karl nearly slipped, but luckily he was fine. 

Now that he wasn’t almost falling into a crater, Karl looked at Ranboo for the first time in a few days. He hadn’t seen the boy since he’d first joined, and even then, they’d never really had a full on conversation. 

“Um, hey, Ranboo, what’s up?” Karl cringed at the crack in his voice, before realizing that Ranboo was carrying an ender chest. “What’re you doing here?”

Ranboo blinked. “Ah, I was just getting some stuff from, um, my old house,” Ranboo cringed slightly and stared at the floor. “.. I was going to visit Tommy, in a bit..” 

Karl’s eyes widened. Of course! Ranboo would be fine to tell stories to- if he didn’t forget them. Tommy would also work. Karl cleared his throat to get Ranboo’s attention again. “Mind if I come with you?” 

Ranboo stared at him in silence for a moment, before speaking again. “.. you probably could. I think it’s pretty far away though, is that good with you?” 

Karl nodded, and the two set off.

  
  


When Ranboo had said Tommy had been taken far away, Karl hadn’t realized how far  _ pretty far away  _ was. 

He’d thought Tommy’s exile only meant staying out of L’Manburg and the Greater Dream Smp- not staying over a thousand blocks away from them. He frowned as he waited awkwardly by the boat as Ranboo went ahead to find Tommy. He didn’t trust Dream. 

Then again, it wasn’t like anyone did. 

Karl sighed, following after where Ranboo had gone. He cringed, looking at the pitiful tent that had been messily pitched. It was kind of sad to see.

“Hey, bitch boy!” Karl jumped a bit in surprise as he jerked to see Tommy. The teenager already looked a bit worse for wear despite it having only been a week- the feathers on his wings were ruffled awkwardly, and dark bags hid under his eyes. 

And yet, Karl knew that fussing over the teen would only make him angry. So, he forced a small smile onto his face. “Hey, Tommy. What’s up?” 

Karl instantly died internally. That was a dumb thing to say. 

Tommy’s face turned into a weary smile. “I’m doing great! I’m living in the wilderness, all alone, doing true big man shit! It’s going well!” Karl laughed softly. Tommy, luckily, didn’t seem to change. 

Ranboo smiled lightly. “Tubbo misses you, you know.” 

Evidently, that was the wrong thing to say by Tommy’s slight cringe. “Yeah. I’m sure he does.” 

Awkward silence followed and Karl cringed. He opened his mouth to say something, but Tommy beat him to it. 

“Anyway!” Tommy shouted loudly, despite them being like three feet away from him. “You’re here now, so that means you have to entertain me! What do you have?” He grinned.

Karl winced. He had a slight feeling he was about to be robbed, and he would really like it if that didn’t happen. “.. I could tell you a story, if you’d like..” 

Tommy scoffed. “I’m way too old for  _ stories,  _ big man.” 

Karl grinned at him. “It involves murder.” Tommy’s eyes widened for a second, before an identical grin split across his face. 

“Now we’re talking.” 

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
